So I'm getting ready to start compiling my list of tools needed for my garage and I need a bit of help.

As of now, I have a 55 piece cheapy kit that doesn't have very much, and I have a 26 piece home improvement kit from Cobalt which is more for hanging pictures and has some screw drivers. I will be getting a tool chest and fully stocking my garage but I want to plan out the tools so I don't miss anything. I will most likely be getting Craftsman tools as I can replace anything that breaks very easily. So all of these tools will be from Sears.

This list will be in a constant state of evolution but please help me add and complete it.

I have the mini fridge in my man cave right inside the door from the garage.
Surge protectors are a must have, and the spare batteries will be with whatever company I get tools with. I don't think I'll continue with the Hitachi brand, because I don't think they make the rest of the tools I may or may not use, no?

I'll take some pics today of my toolbox at work
but here's what I can think of off the top of my head including what you've said Jarrod:
cordless drills 3/8 and 1/2 drive
impact sockets in 3/8 and 1/2 drive metric and standard
sockets, metric (4mm-minimum of 26mm) and standard (1/8"-minumum of 1 1/2") in 3/8 and 1/2
torque wrenches in 3/8" and 1/2"
adapters and extensions for the rachets and sockets
wrenches (regular or ratcheting works) same sizes and sockets
set of screwdrivers (at least 23 piece)
set of nut drivers (yes this is a tool lol)
minimum of a 4lb hammer and also a dead blow hammer
and definitely a few breaker bars!!!
safety glass is a must
and a tool chest to store it all IMO
I'll post up the pics tomorrow Jarrod

__________________

2006 Pontiac GTO M6 1 of 475
Not driving your car to keep miles off of it, is like not having sex with your girlfriend so her next boyfriend will appreciate it more.
353rwhp 353rwtq

I'll take some pics today of my toolbox at work
but here's what I can think of off the top of my head including what you've said Jarrod:
cordless drills 3/8 and 1/2 drive
impact sockets in 3/8 and 1/2 drive metric and standard
sockets, metric (4mm-minimum of 26mm) and standard (1/8"-minumum of 1 1/2") in 3/8 and 1/2
wrenches (regular or ratcheting works) same sizes and sockets
set of screwdrivers (at least 23 piece)
set of nut drivers (yes this is a tool lol)
minimum of a 4lb hammer and also a dead blow hammer
and definitely a few breaker bars!!!
safety glass is a must
and a tool chest to store it all IMO
I'll post up the pics tomorrow Jarrod

You'll probably go with me when I buy the tools. Thanks for the input.

1. Tires, impact gun, clearing debris from garage with air hose, and drying the car after washing for detailing.

2. I don't have a budget, I'm putting together a list of tools I would like to eventually have. My birthday is coming up soon and one of the things people wanted me to make a list of was tools for my garage now that I own one.

3. I'm not sure, but will check when I get home.

4. I plan on doing all work to my car myself (from oil changes to engine pulling) unless it requires tools I don't have, in which case I'll take it to a shop.

5. Basically a weekend warrior, but a place that I can work on a project car doing most of the work myself or with buddies.

1. Tires, impact gun, clearing debris from garage with air hose, and drying the car after washing for detailing.

2. I don't have a budget, I'm putting together a list of tools I would like to eventually have. My birthday is coming up soon and one of the things people wanted me to make a list of was tools for my garage now that I own one.

3. I'm not sure, but will check when I get home.

4. I plan on doing all work to my car myself (from oil changes to engine pulling) unless it requires tools I don't have, in which case I'll take it to a shop.

5. Basically a weekend warrior, but a place that I can work on a project car doing most of the work myself or with buddies.

give me a few hours to go through my inventory in the garage and the truck box and I'll give you a list.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by BowtieGuy

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Quote:

Originally Posted by WheelmanSS

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Don't plan on using an air compressor for blowing out the garage, a leaf blower works better. Air compressors are rated at CFM at a specific PSI make sure you get one rated for the biggest air tool you want to run. I also recommend you look at Milwaukee M-18 cordless tools. Look around for them and buy bare tools if you don't need a case. (drill, impact, hammer drill) I beat the snot out of Milwaukee tools and they have never failed for me. I also like SK tools and buy them at Mechanicstoolswarehouse.com and checkout stillmadeinusa.com I also find a Chapman set a must have item and for general use you cant get better than Klien tools, Fluke meters or Innova scan tools. Sometimes for single use items Harbor Freight or a rental but they will break.
If the cost for a tool exceeds the cost to have someone you trust do the work pay them to own the tool. For electrical work at home pay a professional to do the work for you. Nothing exceeds the saisfaction of doing something for yourself, just know your limitations.

Must haves are air compressor (I have 2), plenty of air hose, and air hose reel, gear wrenches, air ratchet, tail bone seat, plenty of electrical outlets, good vacuum (and blower when washing vehicles), good cordless drill (lithum ion)

Plenty of oil and filters is a must too

Here are a few other items thats I have and really couldnt live without

Thank you for the detailed answers guys. Looks like the tail bone gets great reviews all around. I like the wall mounted air compressor. Hopefully I can figure out how to mount one with the room in my garage as it's a 2 car garage and we plan on parking my Camaro and wife's equinox in there also.

I will look into the Milwaukee tools MMC. Thanks for the recommendation.

Don't plan on using an air compressor for blowing out the garage, a leaf blower works better.
Air compressors are rated at CFM at a specific PSI make sure you get one rated for the biggest air tool you want to run.

If the cost for a tool exceeds the cost to have someone you trust do the work pay them to own the tool. For electrical work at home pay a professional to do the work for you. Nothing exceeds the saisfaction of doing something for yourself, just know your limitations.

to touch more on this. buy the biggest tank compressor you can afford (oiled pump too).
some air compressors are rated for impact tools, but suck for air grinders/etc because they don't move the volume of air that certain air tools require.

look at a pancake compressor, great for a nail gun that only needs a small volume of air at a high pressure, but crappy for an air grinder.

ideally you want the most CFM at the highest pressure.

which comes into play as well if you ever decide to spray paint down the road as well as you want at a minimum 9-11cfm@90psi

I've personally got my eyes on a couple different ones right now.
only major differences are the tank sizes (one is a 60 gal, the other is 80 gal). both are pushing 12cfm @90psi which will set me up for what I do now and in the future. Check out stores like Northern Tool, Tractor Supply Company, Rural King, etc for sales. I would have had the 60 gal one from TSC for ~$600 already had "personal issues" not transpired.
also, you can buy another air tank used to add to your volume and tie it inline.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mindz

Thank you for the detailed answers guys. Looks like the tail bone gets great reviews all around. I like the wall mounted air compressor. Hopefully I can figure out how to mount one with the room in my garage as it's a 2 car garage and we plan on parking my Camaro and wife's equinox in there also.

I will look into the Milwaukee tools MMC. Thanks for the recommendation.

depending on the type of room you have outside the garage, you can place the compressor there. however, be forwarned that you will need to enclose it as I have seen warranty claims on them get rejected in a heartbeat due to the customer leaving the compressor outside in the elements.

also, if you go with a larger compressor and/or you know you are going to be using it a lot, get 3 things

a filter
a dryer
a regulator (if the compressor doesnt come with one already)

for most people however, a 30 gal upright compressor will do most all the work they need done. Home Depot has one out IIRC for like $200 or something like that. its a 33 gal compressor with 9 or 10 cfm@90ps. pretty good overall. last I checked they had a sale with the compressor and an impact gun and an air ratchet combo

as for the tools themselves, I've got so many different socket sets its not even funny. different brands, different sizes, everything. I've got a few big kits that I love, but ironically enough, the tool set that has saved my (or others') ass more times than not, is my little $20.00 ratchet set that I got for a stocking stuffer for christmas a few years back. ive got one in every car I own.

I picked up over 300 sockets for $50.00 a couple years ago on craigslist. they were rusted to crap and I spent another 20 bucks on some rust remover/metal restore and now they look pretty.

what I'm saying is you don't have to have a bunch of brand new tools.

however, if you've got the scratch to buy new, my favorite took kits (by craftsman anyway) are the 255 pc kit and the 309 pc kits.

that being said, I got the 255 pc kit on sale around christmas time for half of what it is listed for now and the 309 kit around fathers day a couple years back doing the same.

keep an eye out on the actual piece listing of the kits as well as a lot of them throw in 50 hex bits to bump the number up.

Also, a couple good sets of allen/hex and star key wrenches or socket adapters go a long way.

I don't have the most tools out there, I dont have the best tools out there even. but a good set of wrenches and sockets with a few screwdrivers will cover you for 99% of the work you will be doing.

a lot of the specialty tools I would hold off on getting until you actually need it.

one thing I will highly recommend are socket organizers. they are invaluable.

the tool boxes that most of my stuff came in have been trashed as they are made of plastic and while they have a nice spot for all the sockets to go, they aren't worth a damn if the tool box sees any motion (ie in the trunk of the car or the bed of the truck) because there is nothing holding them in place so they bounce around and get jammed up when you go to pull out a tray. then everything is disorganized.

which is why I have about 4 dozen of these around. some empty, some filled up. any of the ones that are filled are ID'd with the socket size range and the ratchet size as well for quick reference

__________________

Never race anything you can't afford to light on fire and push off a cliff
A group as a whole tends to be smarter than the smartest person in that group until one jackass convinces everyone otherwise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BowtieGuy

Nobody makes CamaroSpike happy. You just disgust him a little less than other people.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WheelmanSS

Post count is truly an accurate measure of how cool someone is on the Internet.

Thanks for the writeup. The craftsman toolset you said goes on sale for half of the 239 and 249 prices?

That looks like a decent price as is. I also added the socket organizers.

get the stand up plastic trays (didn't look to see if you meant those), the strips are a waste and if you have any heavy sockets they will fall off every time you move it, they will throw the weight off the strip off also. Sorry Jarrod I got hella busy at work tonight :( I'll take pics tomorrow at work and show off my work tools I'll show you my Craftsman Mechanics Tool Set I bought and use less than 1/4 of it lol

__________________

2006 Pontiac GTO M6 1 of 475
Not driving your car to keep miles off of it, is like not having sex with your girlfriend so her next boyfriend will appreciate it more.
353rwhp 353rwtq

BTW there is nothing on these cars you need an air compressor to get off that a cordless impact can't get off. I work with big boy toys and hardly use my air tools unless I need to remove a clutch brake, use a cordless impact or cordless drill for majority of work if i need to remove bolts, nuts etc etc Only good things for an air compressor is filling air in your tires and blowing out the garage.

Did I mention get a test light before you buy a DMM? I have both and hardly ever use my DMM. Test light is used on a daily basis, DMM is maybe once a week

A 3/8" or 1/2" cordless impact works great with the lug nuts on your car also. You shouldn't hammer those lug-nuts on anyway . . . stretches the threads. Get the lugs seated then use a torque wrench in a star pattern to finish it up.

__________________

2006 Pontiac GTO M6 1 of 475
Not driving your car to keep miles off of it, is like not having sex with your girlfriend so her next boyfriend will appreciate it more.
353rwhp 353rwtq

Thanks for the writeup. The craftsman toolset you said goes on sale for half of the 239 and 249 prices?

That looks like a decent price as is. I also added the socket organizers.

I bought the $239 kit for ~$100 and the $249 kit for ~$150

Quote:

Originally Posted by King Nothing

get the stand up plastic trays (didn't look to see if you meant those), the strips are a waste and if you have any heavy sockets they will fall off every time you move it, they will throw the weight off the strip off also. Sorry Jarrod I got hella busy at work tonight :( I'll take pics tomorrow at work and show off my work tools I'll show you my Craftsman Mechanics Tool Set I bought and use less than 1/4 of it lol

if you are only going to be using your tools in the garage, the stand up trays work well. I carry a few sets of tools with me in my truck and have used the stand up holders and after a few bumps, my sockets are laying all over the place.

most of my socket holders are the metal style that are more robust than the plastic insert ones.

__________________

Never race anything you can't afford to light on fire and push off a cliff
A group as a whole tends to be smarter than the smartest person in that group until one jackass convinces everyone otherwise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BowtieGuy

Nobody makes CamaroSpike happy. You just disgust him a little less than other people.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WheelmanSS

Post count is truly an accurate measure of how cool someone is on the Internet.

if you are only going to be using your tools in the garage, the stand up trays work well. I carry a few sets of tools with me in my truck and have used the stand up holders and after a few bumps, my sockets are laying all over the place.

most of my socket holders are the metal style that are more robust than the plastic insert ones.

I thought about this, Jarrod I absolutely agree with Spike! In a residential garage they are perfect because typically you don't use them on a daily basis, me on the other hand i shouldn't have got them lol In fact, if you want some 3/8" and 1/2" metal strips I might be upgrading to the plastic trays and I'll give you the ones in my tool box that I replace

__________________

2006 Pontiac GTO M6 1 of 475
Not driving your car to keep miles off of it, is like not having sex with your girlfriend so her next boyfriend will appreciate it more.
353rwhp 353rwtq